The Man upstairs permitted me to write one last post before the judgment seat.

After the loss of the New Hampshire and New York towns, I dropped out of politics and went back to my farm in Vermont.

In 1789, there was a hay shortage on our farm. I had heard one of my cousins had some extra hay, so I immediately drove out to his place to buy some. But on the way back home, I suffered what St. Peter tells me is known as cerebral hemorrhage and collapsed. I never recovered consciousness and on February 12, 1789, I died at the age of fifty-one.

It turns out that my fears that Vermont would cease to exist were never were realized. When I died, the last barrier between Vermont and the United States fell. The United States was low on money and needed new states to tax. Therefore, when the United States offered to return all of the land New York and New Hampshire had taken back, Vermont was ready to accept in return for becoming the fourteenth state. We were officially accepted on March 4th, 1791.

And me? Well, I will live on in Vermont’s history. Two United States ships will be named after me, and I will become one of the two statues for Vermont in the National Statuary Hall in the United States Capitol, one of the highest honors a Vermonter could ever achieve.

I am extremely angry. And it’s not because Johann Sebastian Bach just died, either. The reason is that Vermont has given up all of its bargaining power, wasted the work of several years, and has doomed itself forever.

Since Cornwallis surrendered the majority of all the British soldiers in America the British went on the defensive and pulled their threatening force away from Vermont. At the same time, Congress offered Vermont statehood. There was one important condition, however. We would have to give up all the New Hampshire and New York territories who had become a part of Vermont, which wouldn’t be fair to us or to the citizens of those territories. Therefore, we rejected the offer.

The New York governor responded by sending troops (again) into Vermont. We met them at the Walloomsac River, where both sides sat and waited for something to happen. It happened all right. The New Yorkers decided that we were too many and went home. That didn’t make the governor of New York very happy.

But New York wasn’t the only angry state. New Hampshire was furious at all of their towns that had become part of Vermont, as they were now almost as small as Rhode Island. And with New York planning to accuse us of treason on the floor of the United States Congress, our hopes were slowly fading. Then, the final blow was struck. Somehow, some of our Vermont friends had persuaded the New Hampshire and New York towns to go back to their respective states. This caused all of Vermont’s bargaining power to be lost. I predict that in the coming years, Vermont will be forced to merge again with New York State.

In 1777, the New Hampshire Grants and several New York and New Hampshire towns near the Grants officially declared themselves the Republic of Vermont. At the same time, the delegates who drafted the Constitution of Vermont announced that they were interested in becoming the 14th state of the United States. But Congress wasn’t ready to make a decision. Because of this, New York was able to send soldiers to attack the new republic which was technically a foreign enemy of the United States. To make things worse, Congress was doing virtually nothing to stop the fighting. That’s when the British trouble started.

Vermont was growing tired of all the fighting in Congress. So it’s possible that I might have been sent by Vermont in an official capacity to negotiate with a country who the Continental Congress didn’t like at all. The British Empire. That’s right. The country that mercilessly imprisoned me was the country Vermont was considering joining. It started when a man whom I had never met handed me a letter from Colonel Robinson, a British officer commanding a Tory regiment. It suggested that Great Britain would be interested in reconciling all past grievances if Vermont rejoined the British Empire.

Despite the fact that we used to hate all the British and all the Tories, Vermont was ready to think about joining them. But we decided to wait first. After all, this gave us a trump card to play on Congress. If they finally made up their mind that we were in the wrong, we could simply join the British Empire. Problem was, someone leaked that I had made a trip to a British general, Henry Clinton. Luckily, Washington could never prove anything. I will never say whether it is true or not, but I will say that later my brother Ira and I made several more trips to British territory in Canada which resulted in an uneasy peace treaty. This, and the fact that many New Hampshire and New York towns were declaring themselves a part of Vermont, put immense pressure on Congress to make a decision. This brings us up to the present. However, there is now also pressure on us. The British has an army very near, and are threatening to take us over if we don’t join peacefully. On the other hand, Washington and the French fleet have the British General Cornwallis trapped in Virginia. If Washington succeeds in capturing Cornwallis, the British will most likely retreat and go on the defensive. So we wait.

On May 6 1778, the British finally got fed up with keeping me in jail (and of hearing me curse whenever I got killed in Age of Empires) and exchanged me for one of their officers. I left with a personal escort (Colonel Sheldon, a light horse officer) for Valley Forge, where George Washington himself greeted me. I immediately offered my services to the General, but Washington hesitated to accept it. A top Washington aide from New York, General Schuyler, disliked me for the New Hampshire Grants affair, and Benedict Arnold was back in favor with Washington. So while it was being debated I rode off to the newly formed Republic of Vermont, which was carved out of the New Hampshire Grants. And that began a whole new adventure, which I’ll be updating you on soon.

Well, I’m back in good ole’ North America. It wasn’t a great trip though. The reason I was being taken back was so that I could be exchanged for one of the numerous British officers captured by the Continental Army. I was put on board a ship with several other prisoners bound for America captained by a Captain Symonds. Our first stop was in Cork, Ireland, where we had to put in to avoid a storm. While there, the Irish gentlemen were very kind. After all, they disliked the British almost as much as we did. To show their disloyalty, the merchants of the town outfitted all of the prisoners with a full suit of clothes, whiskey, gin, wine, turkey, beef, and fifty gold guineas.

However, once we got out to sea that money was useless. When I went to the ship’s purser to buy much needed medicine for the prisoners, the captain forbade him to sell any to me. So for three months, we suffered all sorts of sickness and hunger. Finally, we put in at Cape Fear, North Carolina. The prisoners were transferred to a frigate captained by Captain Montague and headed to Halifax, Canada. Montague turned out to be even worse than Symonds. Soon, we encountered scurvy, starvation, and much more. Even once we arrived in Halifax, we were forced to stay on the ship. During the entire trip, our only medicine was one bottle of ascorbic acid and a package of strawberries sold to use by friendly natives. Finally, one of guards took pity on us and smuggled out a message to the governor of Halifx. He immediately ordered all the sick prisoners off the boat and into the hospital. But once we recovered, we were sent to the Halifax jail, which was barely habitable.

After a little bit of time in Halifax, we were put on a ship en route to New York. This time we met a very hospitable captain, a Captain Smith. He was extremely generous to us. He was so kind that when several Americans suggested to me that we overthrow Smith and capture the frigate, I told them that I would defend Smith and even warn him if the plan was carried out.

Once we arrived in New York, I was asked by a high ranking British officer if I would consider trading colors and becoming a British soldier. I would be introduced to several high ranking British officials including King George himself. I would then come back with an army and help to wipe out my countrymen. I would be rewarded for my treason with land in the Hampshire Grants and lots of gold guineas. I replied, “I view the offer of land to be similar to that which the devil offered Jesus Christ.” With that, the officer turned on his heel and left, calling me a bigot as he did so.

Meanwhile, there is talk that I might be released! Just a rumor I heard in Life, but you never know…

By the time we got to England, my men and I were shells of what we had been before thanks to our wonderful sea captain. Luckily, the crown was starting to realize that if they treated American prisoners of war badly, the same fate could befall the numerous redcoat officers who were captured by the Americans. As a result, upon arriving in England I was treated extremely well. Instead of being brought to a prison, I was instead confined to a castle where I was fed breakfast and dinner from the lord’s table.

Being one of the few Americans in England, I became a tourist attraction in the port of Falmouth. People came from over fifty miles away to talk with me. I even had the pleasure of discussing philosophy and religion with two clergymen who were surprised at my knowledge of the Scriptures. LOL. I showed them. I actually know quite a bit about theology since my education with Reverend Lee was entirely of a religious nature. In fact, I know so much I’ve thought about writing a book on theology (I’ve even got a good idea for a title: Reason, the only oracle of man; or a compendious system of natural religion). Who knows? Maybe one day, some kid will write a report about me for a class in some Pennsylvania school and mention it.

Well, now I’m going to stop and go back to my other pastime while I’m here in England: playing the Age of Empires video game. That game is so awesome! I also watched a little Monty Python and the Holy Grail, and quite enjoyed it (I’ll say this for the British: they’re very humorous). However, the library ordered me to bring it back or pay a £0.50 fine (some nobleman up in Scotland ordered the movie and will be “very upset if he doesn’t get it”).